


thinking of

by EllaYuki



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Free! Dive to the Future, Slice of Life, rin pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 21:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17732963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllaYuki/pseuds/EllaYuki
Summary: Rin and Mikhail talk a bit about Ai during practice one day.





	thinking of

“Are you texting my kouhai again?” Rin asks his coach from the edge of the swimming pool. Mikhail has been texting for a few minutes now, entirely absorbed by his phone. Rin really needs to make sure the man never meets his sister. He doesn't need that kind of headache.

Mikhail looks up, a good ten seconds after Rin's question. “Huh?” he says, the confusion of someone clearly not paying any attention obvious on his face. Rin feels a vein throb in his temple.

“ _Ai_ ,” he says, pointedly, raising an eyebrow. “He told me you texted him about me.”

The confusion clears almost instantly at that. “Oh.” The smile that appears on Mikhail’s face is so bright it’s almost annoying. “Yes. I keep forgetting that Aiichirou-kun  _is_  actually your kouhai, for all that he's always all ‘Rin-senpai this, Rin-senpai that, Senpai, Senpai,  _Senpai_.’ whenever you come up.” His words take on a slightly teasing note towards the end there and Rin can feel an embarrassed flush creep up his face.

He clears his throat _. “Anyway,”_  he says, and wills the damn blush away. “What, exactly, are you telling him about me?” He knows he must look a bit like a brat, hands on his hips, defiant look on his face, but quite frankly he doesn’t care. What he does care about is what weird stuff his coach might be telling his favorite underclassman.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,’ Mikhail says, waving a hand. There’s a particular glint in his eyes Rin doesn’t like.  _At all_. “It’s nothing bad, I promise.” And  _hah_ , as if Rin would ever trust that. He’s sure the look on his face makes his disbelief clear. “He just wants to know how you’re doing, how your training’s going. You don’t keep in contact all that much with your high school friends, it seems, and he’s a bit worried you’re working yourself too hard.”

At that, Rin has to bite his lip, and look away.  _Damn,_  he thinks,  _I made Ai worry_. He hates the thought. He hates the sense of guilt washing over him even more.

He sighs, deciding a break is in order, and pulls himself out of the pool. Mikhail is right; Ai, too, for that matter. He does have a tendency to forget about everything and everyone else when he gets into a certain headspace.

He walks over to where his coach is sitting on a bench a few feet from the pool’s edge, and sits down, takes a sip from his water bottle. For a few long moments, he just lets himself breathe, and his mind wonder.

“I’ll call him after I’m done with practice today,” he says after a while, more to himself than to the man sitting next to him.

Ai is… well, he’s Ai. Haru is his rival and what keeps his competitive spirit burning, and Sousuke is his best friend and he can’t wait for him to be done with his recovery and start competing again. But  _Ai_ , Ai is the bright spot, the calm moment. Whenever he talks to him, Rin feels like some weight lifts from his shoulders, if only for a little while.

Mikhail hums, eyes glued to his phone, a touch of a smirk on his lips. “You should,” he tells Rin, and if Rin hears traces of ‘Stop making him sad, you idiot’ in the words… well. He  _knows_.

“I will,” he says, firm. He has no reason not to.

He has every reason to.

(He misses Ai, he realizes, quite a bit, though he’ll be damned if he actually admits it to anyone but himself.)

He takes another drink, and stands. Break time is over. Calling Ai will have to wait a bit.


End file.
